Carnival of Family Life

On Family Relationships and Self-Improvement

I hope all of you have had a nice week end.
On Thanksgiving Day We took this photo of our little fold of fellows
that share the holidays together.
The children were not too pleased to stop their play for the photo op.
Look quick... Dove said "she will not be waring a dress any time soon".
They had agreed together to put on 1900's faces where they do not smile in a picture.
Goof Balls! This was the best of three.

Instead of cleaning up a big Thanksgiving feast...
We spent Friday working on our "Dave Ramsey" zero balance budget. We had to type out the forms and I did all the years filing and assessing the amounts in each category and getting a baseline for all the monthly standing amounts. We worked so hard for 14 hours on this. We have some things still to work out. But we are getting our monthly form in line.
Friday was a very stressful day as we addressed our goal to live "in the black" with goals in order for each month. It is the opposite way to budget than I have ever tried before. You really must twist your thinking around to understand it and organize it. You start with your income and allocate every single dollar into a category and sub category. Any variance has to be a peter rob Paul so that you do not over spend the savings,
and the projected expenses that will need funds set aside.
We are talking about MAJOR discipline here.
We are doing our part in improving our relationship with each other and money.
Financial stress is a major stress.
We are doing our best to come together and overcome.
Really look at where we are , where we want to go, and how we might plan to get there.
Relationally finance can be one of the hardest things on a marriage. It is also one of the greatest targets of the enemy of our hearts.
I have the review of the Childrens' Rehab Services for Dash (hearing aids and medical support for the possible Ushers and such) due this month. So I need to get all our deductions listed and in order to get the amount into the qualify for services range. It is a matter of hours of number crunching and paper sorting. It will be ready though for taxes so that's got a benefit too.

I went to my meeting this morning and then to the store for bread and butter.
We all had a little time together before Dash had a 2 1/2 hour play date.
After the child left we headed over to our sweet neighbor across the street.

A single woman who is my age. She works so many hours and just wanted (to decorate with someone there) help to get the tree up and sights outside. She spoke of how much we helped. I suppose , but I think she really just wanted to bless us with funds for Christmas gifts for the kids. She had called "out of the blue" stating that we had been on her mind. I am afraid I was not the best company. I have been very worn of late. Rather exhausted of the race that we have been on.
We will get the kids each two gifts with the funds. Share some with charity and give the kids some to get gifts for the other family members (sibling /Parents)

Living Debt free takes some self (and Child, the harder) denial and yet still I see Him supplying. I am educating myself on making my own soy milk and soy yogurt. MILove loaned me her yogurt maker. I have been doing research and educating myself on the process.

I lit the BBQ and grilled some steaks (I got on special 1/2 price) that I had defrosted and had it with nicely steamed butternut squash.
It was wonderful!
We all sat together and watched the movie DVD "The Kid".
It is a well acted story of time full circle.
We had a nice cuddle time.

Tomorrow there will be "Happy Dogs"!

In the mail our hopes for flossing Dove with more ease came.
It is a system that is like a "Water Pick" only it is hooked straight to the faucet, no noise (sensory nightmare), and no container to sanitize. I loved it! I have 14 porcelain teeth that have all had root canals. It was great to clean out the margins.
Dove got used to it and loves it!
Ya!
Daddy man and Dove do not have to do the floss dance every night.
Daddy Man has really hit a wall with it .
You try flossing a kid with sensory integration dysfunction.
They both were suffering, but we did not want Dove to have her teeth rot.
When there is a problem...
Think out of the box!

It has a valve that can send the water to the pic or the spicket.

Daddy Man and the Bible time. Dash (in the sleeping bag) is having a sleep over.
This has been a full day.

The Carnival of Family Life will be hosted this coming Monday, December 1, 2008, at Suburban Wife's Daily Dollar Diary. This is Elizabeth's first time hosting a blog carnival, so it would be wonderful if you would support her effort!!

You can submit your family-related posts by using this link.

Thanksgiving Flood

Hubby and I slept in this morning untill 8 a.m.. The kids were out playing in the back yard really enjoying each other.

I popped over to the store to get two gifts for the children before the crowds hit tomorrow.

We have a job on Saturday to put up some Christmas decorations and lights for a neighbor. She said we had been on her mind and asked if she could hire us. I told her I would rather to do it for free. She desired to give us a wage and I accepted it. We were able to get each child a toy they had wanted without disturbing the savings. We are really trying hard to follow our goal. Dave Ramsey money makeover.We are thankful that we have no debt except the mortgage now. We are working hard on our 3-6 months emergency savings fun. We have really struggled with getting far ahead at all due to medical expenses and not following through. We are taming the flesh. It is truly a challenge , but we are on the same page. We will be using this weekend to type out the pages to formulate the 0 balanced budget a hard thing to start.

Then it was over salt river and through the , well...traffic to grandmothers/ Grandfathers house to go...
We were running a few minutes late and I was so concern about loosing the reservation.
The men folk went and saved our place in line and we arrived with Grandmother in tow just in time.

This is a stock photo

Dash had this

Dove had her choice.

I indulged a bit with this, sharing my salad with the kids.

Mr Uncommon was sate with a cheese burger.
After our meal we all met at the grandparents .
The brothers and our kids went in one car.
Poor Grand parents came with me in my terribly messy car.

Dash came in to us at one pint saying ..."Mommmmm...
I think something in wrong in the bathroom."
I hurried in to see and found this!

So as I waded through the water soaking my swede shoes .
I got to the tank and pulled off the lid

just then Mr u. was at my side and I hurriedly turned off the cut off valve.

We spent an hour cleaning it all up.

Dash had used a toilet that was poorly designed.

I flooded and we were able to stop it seconds before it got to the hall carpet. After we shop vacked and towel up and wrong out the towels I took a shower of my feet and arms.

Beloved and I worked together and we always enjoy those times.

Grandma got new toys for her house. They were a hit! Dash built some Lego and Dove played a game with daddy where she made the rules and won often.

MiLove and I worked on a lay out for the front page of a web site for me. I really enjoyed us women both just being able to be together and not over a hot stove in the kitchen.

Grandma had pies waiting and Dove helped her make the whipped cream. Dove longs to do that with her Grandmother every year. I think it will be a life long memory with her.

My MILove actually mad pumpkin pie with soy milk so that we could all eat it. Dash and I were so happy to have an option.

It was wonderful~ Uncle brought his traditional rolls for he had already ordered them some time back. They come on a wheel like this. Dash was so thrilled to see them. It is his favorite thing about Thanksgiving dinners, the only thing he misses. We drove home to a sky a fire and clouded at sunset.

We gathered an egg, and covered the birds, and came in before the rains,
(I took this yesterday)
It has been a perfect couple of rainy days here.
Not too cold just romantically rainy.

The kids watched some cartoons and My Beloved and I watched some TV (an old ER) on computer together while the thunder rolled.

We all came togeather and shut the house down. After teeth brushing Daddy Man did his reading time.
They are reading the Bible.
He is reading it aloud to them.

They wanted to have a "sleep over". So although we would like to see this it is in reality more like...

this. Laughter and silliness that brother and sister do thrill in. They are catching up with each other. I hope all of you had a wonderful day. I really feel relaxed, without the stress of the cooking of the meal. I feel rested and refreshed. We all had a great day.